'It is a singular coincidence,' said Lord Elgin, in a speech at Benares a few months before his end, 'that three successive Governors-General of India should have stood towards each other in the relationship of contemporary friends. Lord Dalhousie, when named to the government of India, was the youngest man who had ever been appointed to a situation of such high responsibility and trust. Lord Canning was in the prime of life; and I, if I am not already on the decline, am nearer to the verge of it than either of my contemporaries who have preceded me. When I was leaving England for India, Lord Ellenborough, who is now, alas! the only surviving ex-Governor-General, said to me, '"You are not a very old man; but, depend upon it, you will find yourself by far the oldest man in India."' To that mournful catalogue was added his own name within the brief space of one year; and now a fourth, not indeed bound to the others by ties of personal or political friendship, but like in energetic discharge of his duties and in the prime of usefulness in which he was cut off, has fallen by a fate yet more untimely. These tragical incidents invest the high office to which such precious lives have been sacrificed with a new and solemn interest. There is something especially pathetic when the gallant vessel, as it were, goes down within very sight of the harbour, with all its accumulated treasures. But no losses more appeal at the moment to the heart of the country, no careers deserve to be more carefully enshrined in its grateful remembrance. ARTHUR P. STANLEY. _Deanery, Westminster: March 4,1872._ CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. EARLY YEARS. Birth and Parentage--School and College--Taste for Philosophy--Training for Public Life--M.P. for Southampton--Speech on the Address--Appointed Governor of Jamaica. CHAPTER II. JAMAICA. Shipwreck--Death of Lady Elgin--Position of a Governor in a West Indian Colony such as Jamaica--State of Public Opinion in the Island--Questions of Finance, Education, Agriculture, the Labouring Classes, Religion, the Church--Harmonising Influences of British Connexion--Resignation --Appointment to Canada. CHAPTER III. CANADA. State of the Colony--First Impressions--Provincial Politics--'Responsible Government'--Irish Immigrants--Upper Canada--Change of Ministry--French Habitans--The French Question--The Irish--The British--Discontents; their Causes and Remedies--Navigation Laws--Retrospect--Speech on Education. CHAPTER IV. CANADA. Discontent--Rebellion Losses Bill--Opposition to it--Neutrality of the Governor--Riots at Montreal--Firmness of the Governor--Approval of Home Government--Fresh Riots--Removal of Seat of Government from Montreal --Forbearance of Lord Elgin--Retrospect. CHAPTER V. CANADA.